Freezing bread dough?

I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and what I've been doing is making a batch for 2 loaves, baking one, and putting the other half in the fridge after the first rise. Depending on when I bake the second loaf, I either bake it as is (it rises enough in the fridge to bake) or if it's been there a few days, I punch it down, re-shape, let it rise, and bake it. That's been working out fine.

But now I'm thinking it would be ideal if I could lop off enough dough to make 2-4 rolls, and freeze them for later use. That way, if I just wanted a few rolls, I could take them out of the freezer and make them, without mixing up a whole batch of dough. Or I could make a whole variety of buns (I tend to make different types of bread each time) from whatever I have frozen.

I know it's possible to freeze dough, since they sell frozen bread dough, but do they use "normal" yeast, or is mine going to freeze to death? How would I go about this for the best result? Freeze after I punch it down and form it? Let it rise a bit first? Freeze it right after I make it?

And what about baking? Thaw, don't thaw?

Any suggestions?

Reply to
D.Currie
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I freeze bread dough frequently. Normally I make dough requiring two rises, and freeze the dough after the first rise and after shaping. For loaves I simply put the dough in the pan, cover it (right on the dough) with plastic wrap, and put it into the freezer. After it's frozen you can pop it out of the pan and put it into a plastic bag, or just leave it in the pan. When you're ready to bake, just put the frozen dough on the counter, covered with the plastic wrap, and let it thaw, which will take two to four hours. When thawed, remove the plastic wrap and put it out for its second rising. I have never needed to adjust any recipe, and have had consistently good results!

Reply to
Mary

Thanks!

I was hoping it would be that easy. I guess from now on my bread will be a couple of buns short!

Donna

Reply to
D.Currie

You could just make a bunch of rolls and put half in the fridge and half in the freezer. Everyday take one of each and bake them. This will tell you what differences you can expect with the frozen dough. Also try an experiment with the frozen dough---let one roll rise fully then freeze, freeze the other before it rises then bake them together to compare.

You have nothing to lose, and a lot of knowledge to gain. The ingredients are cheap and you'll have allot of fun.

Reply to
BRevere

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